Safety ejector foe dictaphones and the like



May 22, 1923.

F. W. BARROWS.

SAFETY EJECTOR FOR DICTAPHONES AND THE LIKE Filed March 25. 1922 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR fizz/2x5 Wfla/mws ATTORNEY THE LIKE 2SheetsfSheet 2 as 29 INVENTOR flan/ Wfiavl azas' BY I F. W. BARROWSSAFETY BJECTOR FOR DICTAPHONES AND Filed March 25.

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"May '22, 1923.

ATTORNEY Patented May 22, 1923.

FRANK W. BARROWS, OF BRIDGEPORT,

PATENT OFFICE.

CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OFBRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SAFETY EJECTOR FOR DICTAPHONES AND THE LIKE.

Application filed March 25, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. BARRows, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city of Bridgeport, county of Fairfield and Stateof Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in aSafety Ejector for Dictaphones and the like, of which the following,taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to a safety ejector or sound-record throw-off fordictating machines and the like, particularly for use in connection withcylinder phonographs of the dictaphone type. The invention is animprovement over the throw-off devices, heretofore in use, andparticularly over such devices as disclosed, for example, in the UnitedStates patents to Haines, #1,005,025 of October 3, 1911, and Macdonald,#1,152,- 529 of September 7, 1915. These patents disclose throw-offdevices, which are at all times in operative position, and adapted toforce a cylindrical record from engagement with its mandrel, so that itcan be removed without engaging the fingers with the record surface.

Inasmuch as dictators often use the entire cylinder right up to the veryend, and, consequently, allow the carriage to feed beyond the bellsignal to the end of the feed screw, the recording stylus will, in suchcases, drop off the end of the cylinder to the limit of its stop, whichis below the surface of the cylinder. Vith the devices heretofore'inuse, the dictator might then inadvertently eject the cylinder from theman drel with the throw-off mechanism, without first lifting thesound-box, consequently thrusting the end of the cylinder forciblyagainst the styli and damaging them. Also, dictators might-and oftendidstop the carriage at the bell signal, but, subsequently,inadvertently eject the cylinder before lifting the recording orreproducing stylus from the cylinder, consequently cutting a deep lineacross the length of the cylinder.

An object of this invention is to provide a throw-off device, which willbe operative only when the sound-box of the machine is raised from thesound-record, so that the possibility of ejecting the record, while thestylus is engaged therewith, and the result- Scrial No. 546,739.

ing damage to the record and stylus, is entirely eliminated.

Another object is to devise a new and useful mechanical movement, suchthat the movement of one member will be permitted when a corollarymember is in a predetermined position, but prevented when saidlast-named member is in another predetermined position, said mechanicalmovement being eifected through a single connection between the members.

Other objects are toprovide a device of this character, which will be ofsimple con struction, and which will be entirely efficient in operation.

lVith these and other objects in view, an embodiment of the invention isshown in the accompanying drawings, and this embodinient will behereinafter more fully described with reference thereto, and, finally,the invention pointed out in claims.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a combined vertical sectionalview and incomplete side elevation of a dictating machine in which anembodiment of the present invention is incorporated, this view beingtaken along the line 11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine,'partially broken away to disclosethe working parts;

-Fig. 3 is a similar view, only taken from the rear;

Fig. 4 is a combined vertical sectional view and side elevation, takenalong the line et4: of Fig. 3; and v Fig. 5is a perspective view of theoperative elements of the present embodiment of the invention, theassociated structure being removed.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the embodiment of the invention disclosedtherein is shown as incorporated in a sound recording and reproducingmachine of the dictaphone type.

The bed-plate 10 is provided at its ends, adjacent the rear edge, withstandards 11 and 12, and at one end forwardly of the standard 11, withan inwardly-extending hollow bearing portion 13, in which is journalcdthe shaft 14. This shaft mounts the record-supporting tapered mandrel 15at one end, and is provided at its other end with a belt pulley 16, overwhich extends a driving belt 17 adapted to be driven from a suitablemotor (not shown).

The sound-box carriage 18 is mounted for longitudinal movement along ahollow slotted shaft 19, rigidly supported at its ends in the standards11 and 12 and in which is provided a feed screw adapted to advance thecarriage longitudinally of the mandrel, as is usual in such machines.The carriage is maintained against rotation about the shaft 19 by meansof a support 20 bifurcated at its lower end, and slidably engaging a bar21. supported at its ends in the standards 11 and 12. A sound-box orspeaker 22 is mounted in the sound-box carriage, and is provided withboth recording and reproducing styli 23 and 2 1, and is adapted to bemoved into any one of three positions-recording, neutral, or reproducingmeans of a lever 25 projecting upwardly from the carriage, and havin ahubportion 26 journaled upon the shaft 19. The peripheral portion of thehub is exposed through a slot 27 provided in the rear portion' of thecarriage casing.

.[n Fig. 1, the neutral position is indicated. in full lines, thesound-box being raised from engagement with the sound-record. The longdash lines indicate the recording position; and the short dash lines thereproducing positionthe sound-box beinglowered in these two latterpositions. This type of sound-box carriage and shift- 8 ing mechanism,which is merely illustrated as exemplary, is disclosed in United Statespatent to Macdona-ld, #1,100,024, dated J une 16, 1914, to whichreference may be 112d for a further detailed description there- 0\Vithin the hollow bearing portion 13, there is provided a boss 28having a cylindrical bore, in which is slidably mounted a shaft 29provided at its end with an arcuate head 30, disposed in concentric andupwardly spaced relation to the surface, of the mandrel. Normally, thehead 30 is seated in a recess 31 provided in the front wall of theportion 13, and upon outward reciprocation of the shaft 29 is adapted toengage the. end of the cylindrical record mounted on the mandrel 15 andforce it outwardly, thereby permitting it to be removed by insertingthe'fingers within its bore. The inner end of the shaft 29 is providedwith a recess32 having opposed V- shaped end walls and in which isengaged the end of a. crank arm 33 mounted upon the lower end of avertical rock-shaft 34, journaled in a bearing boss 35 provided upon theportion 13, and provided at its upper end with a laterally-extendinghandle 36.

A spring 37 is coiled about the shaft, and has one end hooked about thecrank arm 33 and its other end restrained by engagement with the innerwall of the portion 13, the spring normally maintaining the shaft 29 inits retracted position. The shaft is adapted to be reciprocated outwardlto remove a record by turning the hand e 36.

The shaft 29is provided upon its underside with a straight-sided cutoutor notch 38 normally registering with a slot 60 in the boss 28, and inwhich the end of a leverarm 39, extending through a slot 40 in theportion 13, is adapted to be engaged and disengaged to respectively lockand release the shaft 29. The lever-arm 39 is provided with a hubportion41, fixed b means of a"- set screw 42 upon av shaft 43 o non-circularcross section-square, as shown and havin its cylindrical ends 44 (Fig.2) journa led for rotation in bearing bushings 15,

adjustably mounted in the standards 11 and I 12, and fixed' gainstlongitudinal movement by set screws 46.

Upon the square shaft 43, there is provided a lever 47 slidably mountedfor rotary movement therewith, its hub 48 having a bore corresponding tothe cross section of the shaft, and being provided with reduced bearingends 49 and 50 (Fig. 2), journaled in the parallel side portions 51 and52 of a bracket 53, secured at the rear side of the sound-box carriageby screws 54.

The upper end of the lever is provided with a tooth 55, which is held inengagement with a projecting cam-portion 56 of the hub-portion of thelever 25, by means of a spring 57 (Figs. '1 and 4) tied between thelever 47 and a lug 58 formed on the bracket The cam-portion 56 isprovided with a depression or notch 59, into which the tooth 55 isadapted to engage, and at each side of the depression, there areprovided raised portions formed cencentric to the axis of rotation of.the lever 25. The notch 59 is engaged by the tooth 55 in the neutralposition of the'lever 25and in which position, the sound-box is raisedfrom the surface of the record-the lever arm 39 being moved in thisposition, through the rotation of the shaft 43, out of engagement withthe notch 38 of the shaft 39, and thereby permitting the throw-offmechanism to be operated to remove the record from the man- 'drel. Inthe other positions of the lever Thus, it is' seen that it is onlypossible to remove the record from the mandrel by means of the ejectingmechanism when the lever 25 is in neutral position, and the sound-box israised from engagement with the record surface. The chance ofdamaging-the record surface or the styli, by removal of the record whilethe sound-box is in either recording or' reproducing position, isentirely removed. I r

- The device is of extremely simple construction and operation, and canbe conveniently incorporated in new machines, or supplied as anattachment for machines that are in use. I

While the invention is illustrated in the drawings and described withparticularity, as applied to a talking-machine of a certain type, it'isto be especially understood that it is not restricted to the form shown,or to any of thespecific details thereof, as, obviously, changes inconstruction and design can be made without departing from theinvention, and without affecting the different sub-combinations thereof.Moreover, certain features of the invention are capable of use withoutother features thereof. Such changes are, of-course, contemplated by theinvention and would not constitute any departure therefrom, as definedin the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a machine of the character described, a record-support, means forremoving a record therefrom, a sound-box adapted to be engaged with anddisengaged from the record, and means adapted to prevent operation ofsaid first-named means and rendered operative through engagement of thesound-box with the record.

2. In a machine of the character described, a record-support, means forremoving a record therefrom, a sound-box adapted to be engaged with anddisengaged from the record, and means adapted to prevent removal of therecord by said first-named means and rendered operative throughengan'ement of the sound-box with the record.

3. In a machine of the character described, a support for cylindricalrecords, a sound-box adapted to be raised and lowered, record-ejectingmeans, and means adapted to prevent operation of the record-ejectingmeans and rendered operative through the lowering of the sound-box.

4. In a machine of the character described, a support for cylindricalrecords, a sound-box, means for moving the soundbox into recording, orreproducing, or neutral positions. record-ejecting means, andcooperative locking means between the record-ejecting means and thesound-box moving means adapted to lock the ejecting means in therecording or reproducing position of the sound-box and to release it inthe neutral position. i

5. In a machine of the character described, means whereby the record isejected from the record-support, and means whereby said first means ismade inoperative through the engagement of the sound-box with therecord.

6. In a machine of thecharacter described, means whereby the record isejected from the record-support, and means whereby said first means ismadeinoper ative through movement of the sound-box "toposition to engagethe record.

7. In a machine of the character described, the combination with arecord-support and a sound-box, of means for ejecting a record from saidsupport, and means for rendering said first means inoperative throughmovement to record-engaging position of the sound-box. f

8. In a machine of. the character de scribed, the combination with aphonograph record and a sound-box, of a. support for the record, meansfor ejecting the record from its support, and means for rendering saidfirst means inoperative through move ment to record-engaging position ofthe sound-box.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination with acylindrical phonograph record and a sound-box, of a mandrel for therecord, means for ejecting the record from its mandrel, and means forrendering said first means inoperative through movement torecord-engaging positron of the sound-box.

10. In a machine of the character described, the combination with acylindrical phonograph record and a sound-box, of a mandrel for therecord, means for ejecting the record from its mandrel by engagementwith the end thereof, means adapted to lock said ejector-means inretracted position, means for shifting the sound-box into and out ofrecord-engaging position, and means controlled by the shifting meansadapted to operate said locking means to release the e ector means inthe disengaged position of the sound-box.

11. In a machine of the character described, the combination with acylindrical phonograph record and a sound-box, of a mandrel for therecord, means for ejecting the record from its mandrel by engagementwith the end thereof, means adapted to lock said ejector means inretracted position, means for shifting the sound-box into and out ofrecord-engaging position, and cam means controlled by the shifting meansadapted to operate said locking means to release the ejector means inthe disengaged position of the sound-box.

12. In a record-ejector mechanism, means for locking and releasing theejector, and

means for operatively connecting it to the sound-box raising andlowering mechanism of a phonograph, whereby said first means is adaptedto lock the ejector mechanism in the lowered position of the sound-boxand to release it in the raised position.

' 13. In a machine of the character described, a record-support, alongitudinallymovable sound-box, ejector means for removing a recordfrom the support, locking means therefor and means connected to saidlocking means and moving with the soundbox, and adapted to operate thelocking means to release the ejector when the soundbox is disengagedfrom a record.

14. In a machine of the character described, a record-support, a movablesoundbox carriage, a sound-box, sound-box-shifting means adapted to movethe sound-box into and out of record-engaging position, means wherebythe record is ejected from the recordsupport, a locking lever adapted toengage'said means to lock it, a rock-shaft supporting said lever, arecord-lever rotatable with the rock-shaft and movable with thesound-box carriage, and means controlled by said sound-box-shiftingmeans adapted to operate said record-lever to rocooperate with anarticle to be moved by said first member, and means cooperativelyrelating said members to permit movement of the first member when thesecond member is in one predetermined position, and to prevent suchmovement when it is in another 'predetermined position.

16. In combination, a movement imparting member, a second member adaptedto cooperate with an article to be moved by said first member, and meansto permit movement of the first member when the second member is in onepredetermined position, and to prevent such movement when. it

is in another predetermined position, said means including a singleconnection operatively relating the members.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield, and State ofConnecticut, this 23rd "I day of March, p FRANK NV. BARROWS.

